Fears Enda broke FOI email rules
‘Extremely concerned’ watchdog says Gmail should be used only in exceptional circumstances
ENDA KENNY should be using his private Gmail only in ‘exceptional circumstances’, according to guidelines issued by the Freedom of Information watchdog.
This latest twist comes as FOI commissioner Peter Tyndall told the Irish Mail on Sunday he is ‘concerned’ about the prospect of information being deliberately stored in a particular format or deleted to avoid disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
And it appears the Taoiseach may be in breach of FOI guidelines with both he and his spokesman, €115,000a-year press secretary Feargal Purcell, refusing to answer questions over whether he makes his Gmail available when his department is asked for official correspondence under the Act.
Mr Kenny’s press office previously claimed that his Gmail is only used for ‘non-sensitive official correspondence’. Crucially, this suggests that the Taoiseach uses Gmail on at least a semi-regular basis – and not only in ‘exceptional circumstances’.
Last week, the MoS revealed that, on at least one occasion, his Gmail account received information of such commercial sensitivity that it still cannot be revealed three years after it was sent. We also previously revealed that he used his Gmail to reply to a backbench TD’s representations on behalf of a constituent.
This week we received fresh FOI documents that show Mr Kenny used his Gmail for departmental and Government business on at least two occasions. The first was in June 2014, regarding a briefing note on decentralisation of the Civil Defence HQ to Roscrea. The second was an agreed statement regarding a proposed Dáil recall in May 2015.
These documents were released by Super Junior Minister Paul Kehoe at the Department of the Taoiseach and Defence, with this newspaper still awaiting a full release of documents from Mr Kenny’s office.
For the third week in a row, the Government Information Service has refused to answer questions on Mr Kenny’s possible use of Gmail to circumvent FOI legislation.
A statement issued to the MoS, on behalf of Mr Tyndall, said: ‘The information commissioner would be extremely concerned if information was deliberately being stored in a particular format or being deliberately deleted by any public body in order to avoid disclosure under the FOI Act. The information commissioner has no statutory role in relation to how public bodies store their business information. However, there are strict timelines in the FOI Act for public bodies to respond to requests for information.’
The statement included FOI guidelines, which state that emails from private accounts – such as the Taoiseach’s Gmail – should be used only in ‘exceptional circumstances’.
Under the guidelines, Mr Kenny should be asked to check his Gmail whenever a relevant FOI request comes into his department. And to prevent a deliberate or accidental circumvention of FOI legislation, the Taoiseach should also cc his Oireachtas email on correspondence sent from his private account.
The Taoiseach’s office refused to answer questions about whether Mr Kenny had ever been asked to provide information from his private account under FOI legislation. It also refused to address his apparent regular use of private email in possible contravention of the guidelines.
Instead of answering our questions Mr Purcell wrote: ‘Yes the Taoiseach and his staff are familiar with FOI legislation as it pertains to email both its use and management. I have nothing to add to the extensive comment previously provided.’
When the MoS approached Mr Kenny in a bar on Friday evening, and asked about his failure to answer questions of public interest, he asked our reporter if he was being recorded. He then finished the pint in his hand and went outside where he again declined to comment, saying only: ‘Thanks, thanks and goodnight’.